Three Questions To Answer
Can the Panthers Turn The Bucs Over?
While the Panthers secondary hasn’t quite reached Thieves Ave.level yet – they’re closer to Burglar’s Boulevard at this point– they have almost as many interceptions through seven games (9) as they did the entire season in 2017 (10) – the Bucs have turned the ball over on almost 23% of their possessions in 2018; the Panthers are 51-5-1 when they’ve won the turnover battle under Ron Rivera.
The Bucs have only one game this season when they haven’t turned the ball over – their Week 1 upset win over the Saints.
Will the Tight Ends Have A Big Day?
The Bucs have allowed the third-most yards in the NFL this season to tight ends and both teams have allowed four touchdowns – Tampa Bay has allowed four in the past five games – can the combination of Cameron Brate and OJ Howard explode against a Panthers team that has allowed a touchdown to a tight end each of the last three games? Will Greg Olsen score a touchdown for the third consecutive week?
Who Will Shine For Carolina’s Offense?
With Torrey Smith likely to sit out again, will DJ Moore have another big day? Is it Curtis Samuel’s time to shine? Can Christian McCaffrey replicate his 184-yard rushing performance of Week 3? Is Devin Funchess ready to take the leap to WR1? One thing’s for sure – expect Cam Newton to show out against Tampa. His stats in his career over 11 games: 216.5 passing yards, 63.1% completion, 16 passing touchdowns and nine scores on the ground to go with a 93.3 passer rating.
Oh, and no team has allowed more passing touchdowns in 2018 than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Two Eye-Popping Stats
One Bold Prediction
The Panthers score on defense. Twice.
Book it.
